Before Whitney Anglin (right) and Jeff Sharp (left) married on June 23 at Algiers Point in New Orleans, they had an engagement party at the apartment of Fondren Barber Shop and William Wallace Salon owners Eddie Outlaw and Justin McPherson Outlaw on June 16 in Fondren. Photo by Delreco Harris.

​The white walls and white couches served as a backdrop for the gathering of about 20 people. Spots of yellow—from the lemons doubling as decor and cocktail ingredients—punctuated the walls, along with silver upright piano. Seven large pieces of artwork adorned the apartment's walls, adding tasteful color.

Before Whitney Anglin and Jeff Sharp married on June 23 at Algiers Point in New Orleans, they had an engagement party at the apartment of Fondren Barber Shop and William Wallace Salon owners Eddie Outlaw and Justin McPherson Outlaw on June 16 in Fondren.

​LaTosha Brown, co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund, often breaks out into song when she speaks to a crowd. Two weeks ago, she kicked off a bus ride from Jackson into the Mississippi Delta with a rendition of "Eyes on the Prize." Other passengers joined her, but Brown's raspy voice rose to the top.

LaTosha Brown, who co-founded Black Voters Matter, stopped in Jackson on Aug. 24, 2018 to network with black women as part of her organization’s “The South is Rising Tour.” Photo by Ko Bragg

Brown and co-founder Cliff Albright had recently come from a Georgia community that was then at risk to lose seven out of nine voting precincts in a majority-black county near Alabama. Brown, and those on her tour, contributed to the public pushback that kept those polling places open.

The bus is a moving advertisement, with images of black people holding up the Black Power fist above the tour's title. Brown sees the bus as a "connector" because it belongs to the people, not a candidate, and sends a message of empowerment.

With the exception of Albright, a photographer and a local reporter, everyone on the bus was a woman, and mainly African American—a contingency of the population Brown has become a firebrand for organizing. Brown gained national attention when she led the Alabama Grassroots Mobilization Project to get the vote out in 18 counties last December during the special election to fill Jeff Sessions' seat. The results were outstanding: 96 percent of black voters supported Doug Jones, with 98 percent of black women and 93 percent of black men backing him.

Just before the bus pulled off to make its way to the Mississippi Delta, Brown rejoiced that even the bus driver was a black woman.

"I don't know if y'all know how happy I am that I am in a bus filled with black women in Mississippi, and we're on the way to the Delta," Brown cheered into the bus microphone. "We're on a fire bus."

'A Whole Lot of Black'

Brown set out to reconnect with the rich organizing history in the Deep South, and to build new networks with people on the ground who are getting people out to vote. She intentionally invited both national and local media to join the ride.

"There's this whole image, and this narrative that those of us in the South, that we're in these red states and the only thing going on is red—no, there's a whole lot of black in these states...," Brown said. Later, she added that the media often portray rural southerners as "white Trump men."

On the bus ride, Brown got very impassioned during a chat with a local radio reporter. Brown used the common comparison between two video services, Blockbuster and Netflix, to illustrate the change she wants to see in politics.

"The needs that are in our communities, those needs are not getting met, and the needs continue to be the same," Brown said. "If the Blockbuster model and approach to politics is not working, then we've got to come up with the Netflix."

For the Black Voters Matter Fund, innovation in part comes from shifting the paradigm and investing in black women.

"(I)t's not just about black women as voters, we know that black women do when they go to vote, we know that black women tried to save the world in 2016, right?" Albright said to a crowd of women in the Delta.

"Y'all have strong black women in this state," Brown said. "(We need) to really invest in the leadership and help give them the tools so that they can manifest their vision to really be able to use culture as a tool to empower us..."

'Still Fighting the Fight'

With a police escort, the bus rolled into Greenville, Miss. and stopped at the Mississippi Action for Community Education headquarters. Fannie Lou Hamer was one of the founding board members of MACE in 1967. The mention of Hamer's name almost brings Brown to tears.

Brown and Albright invited local women politicians to MACE. Mound Bayou Mayor Eulah L. Peterson talked about a protest underway as she spoke. Students at John F. Kennedy Memorial High School in Mound Bayou refused to go to school after a Mississippi Supreme Court ruling closed their high school and consolidated it with Broad Street High School in Shelby. Black people once traveled over 100 miles away, to go to high school in Mound Bayou, as the town that slaves founded in 1887 was home to one of the only high schools for black people in the area for decades.

"We are still fighting the fight," Peterson said.

Brown's journey through Mississippi in August retraced those of Hamer. After leaving MACE, the next destination was the M.W. Stringer Grand Lodge where Mississippi Freedom Democrats assembled in August 1964 and chose delegates to challenge the national Freedom Democrats at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, N.J., later that month. Hamer was among them.

"How damn long we got to sit here and say that black folks are at the bottom of the list?" Brown asked rhetorically on the bus ride to the Stringer Lodge. "I don't know about other folks, but I'm tired," she added, perhaps unintentionally evoking Hamer's famous line from the Democratic National Convention of 1964: "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired."

Brown broke out into her final song and favorite of the evening, "This Little Light of Mine," also Hamer's favorite. She was also well known for her voice. Brown evokes Hamer's legacy on purpose.

"We've got a strong, radical history in the Deep South...," she said. "We know how to fight, we know how to win, we know how to transform and we know how to build power. Sometimes we forget because of all of the assaults that happen to us."

Bryant Grocery, the site where Emmett Till first encountered Carolyn Bryant in 1955, is a marker on the Mississippi Freedom Trail and a highlighted spot on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail. Photo by Arielle Dreher

On April 24, 1960, a group of about 125 African Americans stormed Biloxi Beach, swimming in the water and playing on the beach. It was not long before a mob of white people showed up and began assaulting the protesters. The event triggered a series of riots across the city, and the day ultimately became known as Bloody Sunday.

Mississippi is no stranger to triumph and strife when it comes to civil rights, from the wade-ins to the murder of Emmett Till to the sit-in at the Woolworth store in downtown Jackson. In 2011, the Mississippi Development Authority created an initiative, The Mississippi Freedom Trail, to commemorate those sites and numerous others with markers for historical sites of the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi.

After a task force identified 20, MDA unveiled the first marker, which honored Emmett Till, on May 18, 2011. The trail now has more than 25 across the state.

Now, Mississippi joins 13 states in the U.S. Civil Rights Trail. In 2016, then-National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis challenged historians to find surviving Civil Rights Movement landmarks. Researchers at Georgia State University identified 60, and other southern state tourism directors added 70 sites to that list. That effort eventually became the U.S. Civil Rights Trail. Civilrightstrail.com, which launched in February 2018, showcases about 130 sites of civil rights significance.

Mississippi already had the Freedom Trail in place, and had been expanding the list of historic sites each year. The Mississippi tourism department knew it could be part of United States trail. Ray's ideal scenario is that it would provide tourists an opportunity to research one state's history to the next, moving around a region with civil-rights tourism in mind.

"The goal of the U.S. Trail was to give people across the country a chance to read and visit sites around the South," Craig Ray, director of Visit Mississippi, says. "Civil-rights history just happens to be southern history.

The trail includes churches, courthouses, schools, businesses and other sites, and also memorials and museums, including the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.

"It's important to tell this history and the truth about what happened," says Maggie Lowery, the cultural programs manager for Visit Mississippi's tourism development division.

"A U.S. trail would bring more visibility, highlight other states and give us national recognition," Dr. Leslie Burl McLemore, Freedom Trail task-force chairman and former Jackson mayor says.

The City of Jackson’s planning and development department will debut its parklet on Congress Street, which will have outdoor furniture, bike racks and more, on Sept. 21. Photo by Jackson Department of Planning and Development

Development often happens in fits and starts in Jackson, but fall 2018 should see a lot of bulldozers and hard hats around town.

Belhaven Town Center

The Greater Belhaven Foundation recently announced plans to construct a new Belhaven Town Center beginning in fall 2018. The center will be a mixed-use residential and commercial building on Manship Street. David Turner, owner of David Turner Companies (147 Republic St., Madison), is heading up the construction.

"The construction of this new town center is part of an effort that began back in 2012, when the Greater Belhaven Foundation was working with Baptist Hospital during the construction of the Belhaven Building," Greater Belhaven Foundation Executive Director Casey Creasey said.

"We wanted to come up with a strategic long-term plan for an economic corridor in Belhaven. The idea is to develop that area and turn it into a center of commerce for this part of Jackson, with boutiques and restaurants located in a more walkable and livable area."

When it is finished, the Belhaven Town Center's 117,000 square feet will have retail and office space, mixed residential space, an outdoor deck, co-working offices and parking spaces. Development will include both new construction and renovation of existing structures in the area.

Patrick's Produce (6234 Highway 18, Puckett) plans to open a shop in the center that will offer seasonal vegetables and flowers. Mitchell Moore, owner of Campbell's Bakery (3013 N. State St.), plans to set up a new shop called Campbell's Craft Donuts inside the Belhaven Town Center.

For more information, call the Greater Belhaven Foundation at 601-352-8850 or visit greaterbelhaven.com.

New Horizon Isaiah 58

Ronnie Crudup Jr., a lifelong Jackson resident and executive director of New Horizon Ministries Inc., has been hard at work renovating parts of south Jackson. Over the summer, New Horizons renovated the Terry Road swimming pool, which had been closed for nearly two years before the organization fixed leaks, repainted and performed other needed repairs. Now, Crudup's focus is on tearing down more abandoned and blighted properties in south Jackson and refurbishing others for residents to move into.

"We call it the Isaiah 58 Housing Project, or I-58 for short," Crudup told the Jackson Free Press. "We trying to take dilapidated properties and rehabilitate them so we bring families back into south Jackson. We're also not going to use any kind of cookie-cutter approach to this; every project we work on is going to be tailored depending on the needs of individual families and the area."

Currently, Crudup says the I-58 project is focusing on two areas within a one-mile radius of New Horizon Church (1770 Ellis Ave.) and the New Horizon Center (3565 Wheatley St.).

New Horizon is working on three properties in the Alta Woods subdivision in south Jackson and is preparing another property off of McDowell Road for a new family to move in. New Horizon is installing new plumbing, acquiring new appliances and doing tree and landscaping work at the refurbished homes.

The City of Jackson was one of 129 organizations nationwide that received a portion of $1.3 million in grant money from nonprofit AARP as part of the 2018 AARP Community Challenge grant program. Jackson received $15,000, which will go toward renovations to Congress Street to make the area more pedestrian friendly. The city plans to complete the renovations by Sept. 21.

As part of the renovations, the area between Pascagoula and Pearl streets will get new outdoor furniture, landscape design, bike infrastructure and shaded areas. The renovations are part of the Jackson Planning Department's "Open Streets" program, which aims to turn automobile-oriented streets into more vibrant social spaces.

On Sept. 21, the City will host a full day of events and a Downtown Design Dialogue session about Congress Street. The debut will coincide with a nationwide event called PARK(ing) Day, which turns parking spots into parks for the day.

Growing Around the Convention Complex

City of Jackson's Planning and Development Department hosted a Downtown Design Dialogue on June 30, where it revealed plans to develop 9 acres in front of the Jackson Convention Complex s.

Jackson originally took out a $7-million loan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to develop the convention center space in 2008, but the plan fell through when the initial developer that purchased the land from the City went bankrupt, and the land returned to the Jackson Redevelopment Authority.

Among the plans for what to do with the space are residential apartments among condominiums, office space, vertical parking, green spaces, a movie theater and a hotel connecting to the convention center. Participants also discussed using the stormwater from the floodplain the center sits on to create a body of water for swimming or boating.

Fuse.Cloud, a Jackson-based technology company that provides voice, data, fiber Internet and cloud-based services, recently announced that it will move its headquarters to the Landmark Center in downtown Jackson this October.

With the move, Fuse.Cloud will be the first commercial tenant to have its corporate headquarters in the center. The company will also add a Louisiana-based sales director and eight additional staff members after the move.

The company opened in 2006 as Broadband Voice and changed its name to Fuse.Cloud in April 2016 after switching to cloud-based services from its original focus on Voice over Internet Protocol technology, or VoIP (it uses Internet protocol networks to deliver voice and multimedia communications).

The Landmark Center will also bring a new grocery store to downtown Jackson when the redevelopment of the 366,000-square-foot building is complete. Corner Market, a full-service deli from Hattiesburg-based Robert Co., will open a 17,500-square-foot store with indoor seating. Construction on Corner Market should be finished by 2020.

Robert Co. owns eight Corner Market locations in Mississippi along with Mississippi chains Grocery Depot and Sunflower. The company signed a 10-year lease with Weinstein Nelson Management, a Baton Rouge-based company that is managing and directing the Landmark Center's redevelopment.

​During a Friday night dinner rush at BRAVO! Italian Restaurant & Bar in November 2017, the restaurant was a madhouse. Amid the chaos was local author Dawn Dugle, observing its inner workings for her book, "The BRAVO! Way: Building a Southern Restaurant Dynasty."

Dugle, the chief executive officer of Dugle Media, is a Mississippian by choice—twice. Her company, Dugle Media, which she started in 2015, seeks to help local entrepreneurs tell their stories. Recently, she got to tell one close to home: the story of Jeff Good and Dan Blumenthal, and their business, Mangia Bene (Sal & Mookie's New York Pizza & Ice Cream Joint, BRAVO! Italian Restaurant & Bar and Broad Street Baking Company) in "The BRAVO! Way: Being a Southern Restaurant Dynasty."

How would you describe what you do?

Dugle Media is a company that trains businesses on how to tell their story. I travel the country teaching storytelling for businesses and nonprofits.

Why did you choose Mississippi?

I was recruited to come to Jackson to work at WAPT, and I was the assistant news director there, and got promoted and sent (to Arkansas). But, you know, there's always a lot of talk about your people. Most of the time that refers to your family. For me, my people have become my friends and the people that have welcomed me to the state. I felt like I found my tribe here.

Why do you think people in Mississippi, Jackson especially, need help telling these stories?

I think it's important to Mississippi, in particular, because we have been last on all the good lists and top on all the bad lists. There's this tendency to look at the negatives and wallow in that, but until we start celebrating what's really going well and trying to use that as a foundation to build upon, we're never going to get out of last place.

We're never going to get the rest of this country to take us seriously. They don't realize it's just like any other city, except maybe people are a little kinder to their neighbors. Marshall Ramsey has a great quote about how people show up with chainsaws and casseroles after a disaster, and I think that if we can find more of those stories to celebrate, we can build on that as a state.

Tell me about your book.

"The BRAVO! Way" came about through (observing the work of) Jeff Good and Dan Blumenthal, the owners and founders of BRAVO!, Broad Street and Sal & Mookie's. I noticed something when I would go into their restaurants, and it's the amazing customer service. When I talked to Jeff, he said it's really quite simple. You empower your employees to do a good job and to make it right. If you're a server, it might be your 20th transaction of the day, but to that customer, it's their first. Bringing that brand-new experience to the table every time is so important.

But the story is about (the restaurant), and how it was quite revolutionary 25 years ago when they were founding it. No bank would give these guys money, because they'd never run a restaurant before. Nobody had ever heard of the (different) food they wanted to serve like polenta and risotto. ... It's really about what does it take to be successful in that, and the drive and persistence you have to have every single day, and a lot of people don't realize just how hard they worked behind the scenes. For five years, Jeff and Dan worked at that restaurant every day. It's an amazing story whether you're a fan of the restaurant, a restaurateur or just a regular person.

What was your writing process like?

Well, thank God Jeff Good is a hoarder. He has a closet that is chock-full of 25 years of stuff. He never throws away a memo, and he had all of the documents for the business plan. I went through all of that and did five months of interviews. Once I got through all of that stuff I knew where the book was going. I just had to really sit down and be intense and write every single day. Every single day. The month of April was a blur because I didn't go anywhere except work or home. This was what was important, so I devoted the time to get it done.

What has been your favorite part of this whole experience?

Jeff and Dan are two of my favorite people, and being able to really tell the world their story is really exciting for me. They were great help and gave me all access.

What do you want people to take away from your book?

Well, I'd like them to take away just what it takes to make something like that successful. And the other thing, there's a lot of conversation in there. ... [R]eally getting a sense of who they are as people and what drives them, I think, is gonna be a real eye opener for people who may not know them very well. I'm excited to share that with the world, because they're amazing people, and I just want the world to see how amazing they are.

"The BRAVO! Way: Building a Southern Restaurant Dynasty" (Sartoris Literary Group, November 2018, $9.95) eBook is available for pre-order on Amazon. The book will come out in digital and print formats on Nov. 1. For more information, visit dawn dugle.com or find the page on Facebook.

Flora, Miss., native Allen Luke turned his years of tinkering with musical equipment into a full-time career as the founder of Luke Audio in Nashville, Tenn. Photo by Luke Audio

​Allen Luke sat on the patio outside of Crown Studios in Fondren, taking a quick break before jumping back into an already long day in late July.

While he was technically on vacation visiting his family, who were throwing him and his wife, Jessie, a baby shower in Flora, Miss., work came with him. Thankfully, his work fits in a convenient carry case.

For most of that day, Luke, 27, had been on a tour of local studios, including Crown and Malaco Recording Studio, to demonstrate his latest product, the AL-Y56 microphone. He also invited the studios to compare his microphone to some of their most expensive vintage equipment.

"For one, it's about confidence, but the confidence comes from playing with vintage mics and having them side by side with your product and knowing what you're offering for $1,000 can outperform or stand with something that costs $20,000 or $30,000," he said.

Luke experienced his "competition" firsthand after moving to Nashville, Tenn., in 2013. There, he entered an engineering education program at Blackbird Studio, which has recorded artists such as Buddy Guy, Taylor Swift and Willie Nelson. He spent six months in the program and another six months as an intern, working with high-end gear.

"When I got done with Blackbird, I worked repairing vintage mics for a little while and doing DIY stuff, capsule mods," he said. "From that, I kind of figured that I could build my own, basically. I could offer something that people would want (that is) much more affordable than all this vintage stuff that everybody's crazy over."

In 2015, he incorporated as Luke Audio and released his first product, the AL-X7 series, transformer-less field effect transistor (FET) style microphones. He followed that with the Y56, which is a large-diaphragm tube condenser microphone with three interchangeable capsules, in February 2018.

Although pricing challenges made it impossible to keep all the parts American-made like on the X7, Luke outsourced the metalworking, and builds the circuits and capsules himself in order to keep his products affordable.

"I'm aiming more for the home-studio people is the point," Luke said. "It's aiming for that, but it's also something the major studios can use, too, not only if they want to lighten their load and get rid of vintage mics, (but also) if they just want to free up some of the vintage mics ... for something here and use my mic there."

As to why he puts a high priority on keeping his prices low, Luke said it might have something to do with his formative years in Flora, playing in rock bands and tinkering with instrument electronics.

"I guess when I was coming up here, we were always trying to record ourselves, to make band demos and stuff," Luke said. "We never had good gear because it was way too expensive."

Between the friendships and business connections, remaining in Nashville has been beneficial in launching Luke Audio, he said. With he and his wife welcoming a new child in October, Luke said Tennessee is the best place for his family for now, but he wouldn't rule out returning to the Jackson area one day.

"For the time being, (Nashville) is the place to be, but there is something about home, too, you know," he said.

Blaine McCorkle stepped into the head coach position at Belhaven University after Hal Mumme left to become offensive coordinator at JSU. Photo by Belhaven University

​When head coach Hal Mumme left to become offensive coordinator at Jackson State University, Belhaven University needed to find a new leader for its football program. The Blazers found one in Blaine McCorkle.

McCorkle has spent the last nine seasons in three programs—Liberty University, the University of Richmond and the University of Delaware—with current UD head coach Danny Rocco.

​After 19 years coaching, this is McCorkle's first time in the lead position. He has spent most of his career as an offensive line coach but has worked with tight ends, wide receivers and special teams. This is an unusual choice, as most head coaches were offensive and defensive coordinators before moving up.

"The biggest fallacy in coaching (in my mind) is that you have to be a coordinator before becoming a head coach," McCorkle says.

The coach has plenty of work to do at Belhaven. The Blazers have not had a winning season since 2012 and have not won more than seven games since 2006. But he has worked in programs with quick turnarounds.

​He joined Rocco at the University of Richmond in 2012 to rebuild a team that was coming off a 3-8 record in 2011. The Spiders reversed their record in year one to 8-3 and followed it up with a 6-6 in the 2013 season before winning between nine and 10 games from 2014 to 2015.

The same thing happened at Delaware, where the Blue Hens went 4-7 in the 2016 season before Rocco and McCorkle arrived. In the 2017 season, the team reversed its record again to 7-4.

McCorkle hopes lessons he learned from Rocco will allow him to be successful quickly at Belhaven.

"First, you have to get the kids to trust you, and when things haven't been going well, they are hungry for trust," he says. "As quickly as you can try to get trust so kids will buy in to what you want to do with the program. Then you need administrative support, student support and alumni support, and that is what we got right away when we arrived at Belhaven."

McCorkle says getting the right coaching staff is vital to turn around a program. He singled out defensive coordinator Melvin Smith as an important hire after Carlton Buckels left to take a job at the University of Tulsa.

"He has been phenomenal after coming in midway through spring, and brings toughness and discipline to our team," McCorkle says of Smith. "He is great mentor to our young staff, and we are lucky to have him."

While coaches are mostly judged on wins and losses, McCorkle knows this team should be judged on how it improves.

"Our slogan is 'win today,' and that doesn't mean just on the field but making the right choices and doing the right things," he says. "Every team has goals but our goals are developmental and improvement. I want us to improve everyday."

​Belhaven plays Texas Lutheran University on Sept. 15. For more information, visit blazers.belhaven.edu.

Kimberly Ruffin owns and operates local bakery Kimmiesweett, which she started as a home business around 2008 and expanded with a Northpark Mall storefront in 2017. Now located in Fannin Mart in Brandon, the bakery is growing to offer cake-decorating classes, coffee and more. Photo by Delreco Harris.

"Give me just a minute, and then we'll go in the back," Ruffin said to this reporter.

​After White took care of the first two customers, a third one—a server at Fernando's Mexico City Dining—came in to get a cupcake before her shift started. It was Tuesday, and in keeping with Fernando's $2 tacos on that day, Kimmiesweett does $2 cupcakes.

The decor of the shop is bright and playful, with shades of neon green, pink and a purple reminiscent of pansies. On one wall is a bouquet of pink, purple and white flowers, with a backdrop of dark green leaves. Beside that is the outline for a flower mural, which Ruffin's sister, Christy White, is creating for the shop. Pink and yellow streamers hang down from the ceiling near the front door.

Ruffin's mom, Gloria White, took over at the front counter as Ruffin headed to a room off to the party room in the back to talk. It had long tables in an L-shape. Brightly colored aprons hung on chairs, and blue-and-white teacups sat in front of each seat.

Ruffin grew up in a family that loved baking, but she found her love for cake decorating while working in baking departments for grocery stores such as Kroger, where she worked for seven years before launching Kimmiesweet.

"I loved the artistry," she said.

After the Canton native graduated from Hinds Community College with an associate's degree in hospitality, she decided to find a job in a hotel, but had no luck in the field and returned to decorating cakes.

'Well, I guess this is where I'm supposed to be, God, but if this is where I'm supposed to be, I don't want to just work at a grocery store," Ruffin told herself then. "I want to have my own bakery.'"

She started Kimmiesweett as a home-based business around 2008. Over time, it grew so big that, Ruffin decided to take it on full time in 2017, opening her first location in Northpark Mall. When Northpark began an extensive remodel earlier this summer, though, the mall informed Ruffin that Kimmiesweett's space would not be available once construction is completed.

"We were like, 'We've got to go somewhere. The people are looking for us,'" Ruffin said. "... We were not going to let Kimmiesweet die."

Ruffin shuttered the business in June 2018 and reopened in the Fannin Mart shopping center in Brandon on Aug. 1.

The new location gives Kimmiesweett more possibilities, she said. They are developing a co-working bakery space, which will have WiFi, a kitchen for guests to practice decorating and a classroom. In the future, Ruffin wants to have multiple bakery locations.

"I want to be everyone's community bakery. ... I think this (business) is my platform to teach. This is my platform to tell people to follow their passion. This is my platform to help," she said. "This is where I'm supposed to be. I know that."

​Kimmiesweett (1149 Old Fannin Road, Brandon, 601.720.9774) is open Tuesdays from noon to 8 p.m., Wednesdays and Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, find the business on Facebook.

​Each year, we ask you about the best things in Jackson--from places to eat and drink to people to nonprofits and everything in between, including lawyers. Here are who you voted as 2018' Best of Jackson lawyers and law firms.

​Carlos Moore, managing partner of Tucker Moore Group, LLP, says he always saw working as a defense attorney as a natural fit for him.

"I've always been passionate about fighting for the rights of others," Moore says. "I want to fight for the little guy against big corporations and the government, and level the playing field to give my clients a fair chance in court."

​Born in Pascagoula, Moore, 41, received his bachelor's degree in political science from the University of South Alabama in 1999 and his law degree from the Florida State University College of Law in 2002.

Moore's areas of practice include personal injury, worker's compensation, civil rights, social-security disability, wrongful death, product liability and more. He is a member of the Mississippi Bar, the Tennessee Bar, the American Bar Association and the American Association for Justice, and is a former vice president of the National Bar Association.

He and his wife, Natalie Moore, have been married for 17 years. They have a 7-year-old daughter named Avery Nicole Moore.

If you have been in the Jackson metro area for a while, chances are, you have either heard the familiar "One Call, That's All" phrase, or seen a billboard with it on there. This year's winner for Best Personal Injury Attorney Richard Schwartz is behind that familiar phrase.

He received his law degree from the University of Mississippi in 1978. He founded his firm, this year's winner for Best Local Law Firm Richard Schwartz & Associates, P.A. more than 20 years ago.

In the past, Schwartz has served as the assistant city prosecutor in Jackson for 10 years and one for Ridgeland for two years. He was also a licensed real estate broker and closing attorney for title and mortgage companies, though he no longer holds those titles.

​When you are dealing with real estate, a lawyer with experience is a necessity. This year's winner for Best Real Estate Attorney, Robert "Bobby" Moorehead, has conducted thousands of title examinations and real estate closings over his career as an attorney.

The Jackson native received bachelor's degrees in philosophy and psychology from the University of Mississippi in 1992, and then his law degree from Mississippi College in 1996. He did his closing attorney training with local real estate lawyer D.J. Horecky.

Moorehead was then a closing attorney for Underwood Law Firm from April 1997 to May 2006, a partner at Holaday, Yoder, Moorehead and Eaton, PLLC, from September 2006 to June 2010, and he opened his current firm around 2011.

"I enjoy seeing people buy homes and put themselves in a better situation," he says. "It's not confrontational, and it's very satisfying being a closing attorney."

​Teresa Harvey, winner of the Best Family Law Attorney for a second year in a row, says she is passionate about her work with CG Law Group, a sister firm of Chhabra & Gibbs, P.A., which often involves assisting families when they are dealing with issues such as, estate, divorce and guardianship.

"I do this work because I want to help people in what is often one of their most difficult and emotional times in life," Harvey says.

She graduated from Delta State University in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in political science, and then from the University of Mississippi in 2001 with her law degree. Before joining Chhabra & Gibbs in 2011, she ran her own Madison-based law firm, Panter and Harvey, together with Craig Panter from 2005 to 2008.

​Sometimes entrepreneurs and business-owners need to figure out many aspects of a business, and that is where attorneys such as this year's winner for Best Business and Startup Attorney Bobby L. Owens come in.

Owens graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor's degree in economics in 2004. He attended The George Washington University Law School from 2004 to 2005 and received his law degree from Northwestern University's Pritzker School of Law in 2007. He moved to Jackson in April 2014 and began working at Owens Moss PLLC.

​Thomas C. Rollins Jr., 34, says knew he wanted to make a difference somehow, but the path to was uncertain after he got a serious injury while serving as a U.S. Marine in Iraq. He served from May 2002 to August 2006, when he retired and returned to the U.S. He graduated from Mississippi State University with a bachelor's degree in banking and finance in 2007.

"In that field the only thing you can really do is financial advising," Rollins says, "but I wanted to be self-employed, study law and at the same time help people, which you can't do in all types of law."

He decided to become a bankruptcy attorney. He attended law school at Mississippi College, where he received his law degree in 2009. He opened The Rollins Law Firm in May 2010.

His central office is in Jackson, but he also has offices in Vicksburg, Hattiesburg, Gulfport and Meridian.

Since her junior year of high school, this year's Best Tax Attorney, Ashley Wicks, has been interested in business and money.Wicks received a bachelor's degree in business administration from Jackson State University in 2001 and her professional accountancy degree from JSU in 2002.

She passed the Certified Public Accountant exam and then attended law school at Tulane University in New Orleans, where she graduated with her law degree in 2005.

She specializes in public finance, state and local taxation, tax credits and tax. She has been involved in organizations such as the American Bar Association, National Bar Association and more. "My goal is to continue to grow my practice and be an asset to my community," she says.